Supreme Court of the Netherlands 11 July 2014 (ABN AMRO vs Berzona)
On 27 June 2014, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales sanctioned the solvent scheme of arrangement made by J.K. Buckenham Limited and its Scheme Creditors pursuant to Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 which was voted on and approved by the Scheme Creditors during the meeting held on 4 June 2014. A copy of the Order sanctioning the Scheme was delivered to the Registrar of Companies on 30 June 2014, and the Scheme became effective on that date.
The Belgian Company Code provides for the possibility to dissolve and liquidate a Belgian company in a single step (en un seul acte/in één akte) (for more information, please see the June 2012 edition of this newsletter).
The Act of 25 April 2014 amending the Company Code with regard to liquidation procedure (the "Act") was published in the Belgian State Gazette on 14 May 2014 and entered into force on 24 May 2014. The Act amends one of the main requirements to proceed with dissolution and liquidation in a single step.
On 16 April 2014 we assisted J.K. Buckenham Limited (JKB) in successfully obtaining the court’s leave to convene a meeting of its creditors, a meeting at which JKB will ask such creditors to consider and to vote on a scheme of arrangement under the Companies Act 2006 (the Scheme). JKB is promoting the Scheme as part of a wider solution to end its broking obligations, release trapped cash, relinquish its FCA permissions, and ultimately liquidate.
THE SCHEME
American and British directors of corporations should be mindful of the different standards of conduct, obligations, and potential personal liability when holding directorships in Turkish companies, particularly if such companies’ financial situation is deteriorating.
On 1 August 2013, an act amending the Business Continuity Act ("BCA") of 31 January 2009 entered into force.
The new act tackles the most common types of abuse under the Business Continuity Act and aims to reduce the number of bankruptcies following reorganisation governed by the BCA. The basic principles of the Business Continuity Act remain unchanged, however.
When the final version of the Omnibus II Directive comes into force, it will amend the Solvency II Directive so that it includes a sunrise clause, a phasing-in clause, and a run-off and restructuring exemption, as well as significant reporting and other transitional measures. It will also allow or require the European Commission and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) to adopt “regulatory technical standards”,“implementing technical standards” and “comply or explain Guidelines”.
The English Court has devised a new route to impose liability on a company's UBO who strips assets from the company leaving creditors to claim in its insolvency. UBOs feeling comfortable about the security of their corporate veil after the Supreme Court’s decision in Prest[1], will need to look carefully at this recent decision, which may be applied in other jurisdictions with corporate laws based on English law, such as BVI and Cyprus.
In a ground-breaking decision, the Dutch Supreme Court recently found that a foreign bankruptcy trustee may in principle exercise the powers conferred on him under the lex concursus (the law governing the bankruptcy) in the Netherlands as well. Such powers can include the management and disposal of assets located in the Netherlands at the time of the foreign bankruptcy order.